Pretender
by DeliriousMelody
Summary: Fem! Humanized! Lightning McQueen. Story set as Lightning only as a human woman hiding behind a male persona. Her mistakes and past follows her to the small town of Radiator Springs when she goes missing from the media and from public eye. Lightning learns how to make new friends while she still continues to hide under her persona, but for how long? No pairings, enjoy!
1. Lightning

_"More news on the rising rookie known as Lightning McQueen, tune in for more right after this short break."_

 _"McQueen is the youngest rookie ever to be on the track."_

 _"He's my hero and idol!" "I love him so much!"_

 _"Kid's probably the best rookie I've ever seen in my career."_

 _"He's arrogant." "He's young and cocky after winning a few races. I bet you his luck will run out eventually and I'll prove that I'm the best."_

 _"Chick Hicks appears to have some resentment towards the newest member on the tracks."_

Lightning groaned and shut off the T.V. and sat down in a chair attempting to relax. It's pretty hard for her to relax after seeing countless interviews and news stories all about her, she dryly supposed it was would take a lot of time to get used to.

She glanced at the time on her phone and she sighed to herself, she pressed her body against the chair slightly, a few bangs of hair annoyed went in her vision. Her eyes flickered to the large bay window in her beach house, and into the outside world. It was still so early out, the sun had barely even begun setting and she decided to turn in early. The only sound that could be heard was the sound of her footsteps tapping on the wooden ground, Lightning all but dropped herself onto her large bed that practically consumed her.

The ringing of silence rung in her ears, her house was practically a mansion, she had it all. Fame as the youngest rookie, she was a millionaire and she's still earning money with each winning race, what was she missing?

 _"Family? Friends? Love?"_ A voice whispered.

Lightning flinched, she hasn't been loved since she was younger. Lightning felt angry at herself and wiped angrily at the tears falling on her face.

It's a pretty lonely life she had, all alone with no one to know or love her. Curling up in her sheets, Lightning shuddered and cried quietly, her body wracked with sobs and she wept alone in the dark. And no one would know. No one ever did.

Lightning was very petite and many thought she was just a scrawny boy, she had short dirty blonde locks of hair that reached under her neck. She had plump pink lips, a button nose, cute large bice colored eyes and a light amount of freckles on her creamy white skin. She typically wore her red and white racing jacket along with some baggy black jeans. She normally had her chest wrapped in binds whenever she left out in public, she preferred this then being herself out on the tracks.

After all, girls weren't supposed to be this good at manly things, girls weren't supposed to want to be racers, they were supposed to be dutiful housewives. That is was Lightning's mother and father had told her before she ran away at the age of sixteen when her parents had argued with her for hours when she had gotten her hair cut short. Her father had screamed at her, with his face red from rage and he had kicked her out. Lightning's mother was so ashamed of her she didn't even bother looking at her when she slammed the door. Lightning remembered the last haunting words she had said to her parents, coldly Lightning said she wished they were dead.

Then she had wandered for days out in the streets of L.A. until she had decided to audition to be a racer when she came across a flyer. (Is this how it's done? Idk just pretend I guess.) She had become a sensation after proving she was skilled. Since then no one has ever know that she was a woman and not a man, and that's how it will stay.

...

...

"You better not cry when I win, McQueen." Chick Hicks mocked, he laughed with his pit crew outside his trailer and Lightning grit her teeth in frustration and stormed away, fuming a bit. Lightning was going to stay in her cars trailer, it was a long walk away as it was at the end of all the trailers, away from any cameras or fans and busy racers and their pit crews. She almost fell when a hand stopped her from walking and gripped her shoulder gently in reassurance. She turned around to snap at the person holding her shoulder but she stopped when she saw it was just Strip Weathers, he preferred his nickname King though. King was a tall man with dark brown hair, he wore his famous baby blue DinoCo jacket.

"You alright there rookie?" He asked kindly, Lightning nodded quickly and gave a fake smile brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

"I'm alright I guess."

"Well, you shouldn' let Hicks get to ya. He's just moody cause he isn't being talked about enough and you are the popular rookie and all." King mused, Lightning nodded again, with a little more force when King mentioned her being the rookie.

"I won't." King smiled and he tried to pat her shoulder gently, but a few pit crew members jogged by and bumped into King. The crew members apologized while jogging and kept on going. No one had paid attention to the rookie and King, they were far too busy to see the King's hand miss and grab at the chest of McQueen, nor did they see the widening King's dark blue eyes.

"I-I'm so sorry rookie, I-" King apologized embarrassed. He looked at the rookie in shock, Lightning turned as red as her jacket and her hands covered her chest and she started shaking, he knew. _He knew. He knew. He knew. **He knew.**_

"Pl-please! Don't tell anyone!" Lightning pleaded, her voice shook and sounded more feminine. Her real voice showed. Her bice blue eyes watered. "I'll do anything!"

Lightning was panicking and she was going to draw in attention so Strip quickly wrapped Lightning in a gentle hug, he knew there was a chance she would freak out more. He sighed in relief when she calmed down and he said in her ear.

"I promise I won't tell anyone, calm down and take deep breaths."

She swallowed and took deep shuddering breaths. Her watery eyes looked better and she relaxed in King's hold. King let her go and McQueen looked up at him, she was rather short for a young rookie.

"Does anyone else know?" King asked, Lightning shook her head.

"Strip? Strip where are you?" King's wife called out, King hesitated in whether he'll leave or stay.

"I have to go kid, I promise I won't tell. Take care kid, I'll see you after the race okay?" He gave Lightning a reassuring smile when she gave him an affirmative nod. King left in search of his wife and Lightning was left all alone once again. She exhaled a breath of air, she felt a tense feeling leave her body and she felt filled with relief and she relaxed.

 _"Racers to their cars!"_ The announcer said, Lightning groaned and she sprinted to her car much to the amusement of her fans.

...

...

 _"Breaking news: Lightning McQueen has gone missing."_

* * *

 **I don't own Cars or it's characters. Please read and review your thoughts and I hope you enjoyed this.**


	2. Hospital

_"McQueen's driver arrived in California, but McQueen is missing."_

 _"Racer Lightning McQueen is reported missing."_

 _"Due to recent footage found racer Strip Weathers is being questioned by police of the whereabouts of missing racer Lightning McQueen as the two were seen conversing with each other after a race had just finished. More details coming up."_

 _"We're all asking the same question: Where is McQueen?"_

 _..._

...

Lightning moaned in pain, her body ached from bruises and her muscles felt incredibly sore. She opened her eyes and groaned louder when the light all but burned her eyes. Her bed felt stiff and her sheets felt scratchy. Lightning figured she drank a little too much, and that's why she's still wearing her clothes from last night.

 _Last night?_

 _What happened last night?_

Lightning sat up quickly, but she cried out in pain when her wrist was yanked back painfully. Light panicked and turned around and her eyes flickered everywhere frightfully. This isn't her room. Why is she handcuffed. Where is she? She sat back against the wall and she rubbed at her wrist with her other hand, the handcuffs are digging in painfully into her skin. Lightning glanced down and sighed in relief, her binds on her chest haven't broke, she was fine, for now.

Lightning quickly began trying to recall the previous night that led to her to this predicament. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked down at her wrist to see another darkening bruise, but back to thinking. She just simply couldn't remember what happened. Another quick look over the room made Lightning think this is a small hospital room, and thankfully not a jail cell.

"Mornin' sleepin' beauty!" A male southern-styled voice yelled. Lightning shrieked and scooted back farther into the wall away from the tall, lanky man standing over her. He had brown hazel eyes and a light shade of brown skin, he wore a black and dusty t-shirt with baggy brown jeans. He had brownish-black hair with longer than usual bangs that kept hanging over his eyes. The man chuckled, "Boy I was wonderin' when you was gonna wake up."

"W-who are you! Where am I!? Why am I handcuffed!" Lightning yelped. This made the man laugh to himself, much to the dismay of a quickly angering Lightning.

"Shoot man, you're in Radiator Springs. Now what's your name?" Lightning felt slightly offended, but didn't act on any anger.

"You don't know my name?"

"Nope!"

"It's-" She hesitated, maybe the other people around here didn't know her as well. She-she could finally use a different name besides "Rookie Lightning McQueen."

"It's? Now that there's a weird name. I'm Mater!" The man stated enthusiastically. Lightning's brow twitched a little in irritation and she laughed forcedly.

"No, my name is... Evan."

"Evan? Never heard of an Evan 'round these parts before." Mater chatted, Lightning blinked. This actually has a chance of working out on it's own.

"That's...neat I guess. Look, Mater can you get me out of these cuffs? I need to go I _have_ to get to California." Mater shook his head.

"Sorry there Evan. I shouldn' be talkin' to the accused." Mater said a little sorrowfully. Lightning nearly did a double take. The what now?

"I'm sorry," Lightning laughed breathily yet nervously. "Did you say the a-accused?"

"Yup, you're going to court." Mater said, his voice all too cheery for Lightning.

"What! What did I do?" Mater opened his mouth to speak until a gruff voice reprimanded him.

"Mater! What did I say about talking to the accused?" A mature man with black hair that was graying and he had rather large mustache and he was adorned in policeman clothes, Mater lowered his head in shame.

"To not to Chief" The man, Chief, nodded in approval and he turned to look at Lightning. His gaze held authority but unfortunately Lightning was a rebel, she locked her eyes onto his almost challenging him. "The troublemakers awake now isn't he."

"He is isn't he?" Mater asked concernedly. Lightning stifled her laughter when the officer nearly sputtered at Mater's question.

"Excuse me officer can I be discharged I need to get to Calif-" Lightning started but the officer was quick to shut her down.

"Excuse me son I don't have to do anything for you, and frankly I don't care where you want to go it can wait after court."

"Look buddy I _need_ to go to California not _want_." Lightning interjected, annoyed. The officer was starting to grate down on her nerves a bit. Wait a minute. "Did you say court?" Court, accused? Just what exactly did Lightning do last night?

"Yes I did, the Doc's going to check in on you in a minute or two. Come on Mater, Doc's gonna shoo us out in about three...two...one..." Chief said and soon as he said one a more mature man walked in with a clip board. The man stood up straight with a stern look on his face, he had some worry lines on his forehead and his hair was slicked back and grey. The officer nodded at the man and walked out of the room and Mater followed and waved at Lightning before closing the door.

"Are you currently feeling any pain?" The man, Doc, asked. Lightning nodded a little, this man had this stern aura around him that seemed to make all of her rebelliousness just disappear. "Where and what kind of pain?"

"Bruises and soreness." Doc wrote some things down on the clip board and Lightning strained her neck slightly to see what he was writing but he continued talking again.

"That's expected after that stunt you did last night."

"What stunt? What am I even doing here?" Doc cleared his throat and Lightning went silent quickly.

"You came crashing into our peaceful town last night causing havoc all over our streets until you crashed into a ditch and went unconscious." Doc said, Lightning gapped. Surely she hadn't done this. Right? "We pulled you out to fix you up and then send you off to court for your actions."

"Oh fuck." Lightning murmured in a daze, what brought her out of her daze was the clip board that smacked her on the head.

* * *

 **I don't own Cars or it's characters. Please read and review your thoughts and I hope you enjoyed this.**

 **My heart goes out to all of the families and teens down in Parkland, I send my deepest sympathies in their time of sorrow.**


	3. Court

"No. There is no way in hell am I going to be riding in that-that thing!"

"That thing has a name there, we call her Bessie." Doc said gruffly, yet proudly of that terrible machine. Lightning crossed her arms across her chest, although she did it carefully because she feared the binds would snap. Lightning couldn't believe the ungodly sight before her, it was rusted black and old yellow and it sputtered black oil and other substances that sizzled onto the faded and broken road under it. "Bessie" is a old type of road pavement machine that Lightning wanted absolutely nothing to do with, whatsoever.

"Look, can't I just pay you guys I have loads of money to give to you- er- people. Name a price and I'll get out of your hair and I'll never step foot into this place ever again." Lightning bribed, she had attempted to bribe the people in this hillbilly town to let her leave and the Doc was about to agree until that blonde-haired lawyer said she had to be punished according to the law. Lightning wasn't even going to be able to leave for a few days at least until this road was paved anew again!

..

..

 _"I know his kind, reckless and stupid. I don't want him in this town, just release him and make sure he never enters this town again."_

 _Lightning cheered, they were just going to let her go, she still had time to get to California, she was due for interviews this morning and the media was going to lose it if she doesn't appear. The old courtroom she sat in brought her back from her thoughts. The wooden chairs, the wooden tables, the wooden podium, and the wooden floors were all pale and dusty from age. She wrinkled her nose a bit from the dust in the air. Lightning ignored the half-hearted glares she was given from some of the townsfolk. There were still some muttering about Lightning but she tuned them out in favor of thinking of being back on the tracks._

 _Suddenly, the door burst open and a blonde woman walked in the room walking professionally in her baby blue heels. She adjusted her oval shaped glasses with her index finger and she took a seat next to Lightning._

 _"Morning everyone sorry I'm late." The woman said, she turned and her gaze looked at Lightning up and down, she fluttered her eyes and Lightning blinked. Not this again, Lightning groaned mentally. This woman expected McQueen to hit on her, and she wants McQueen to do it too. Lightning knows her type, she just wants a man to chase after her. Lightning cleared her throat, gave this woman a convincing charming smile and she spoke with her fake male voice. (POV Change here folks)_

 _"Well, hello~ beautiful." I giggled a bit inside but I stopped myself from biting the inside of my cheek to keep a smile off, I have to admit, this is hilarious even if it's one hundred percent weird. The woman rolled her eyes and she dropped a pile of papers onto my desk, I coughed a bit from all the dust that seemed to make it's way into my lungs. 'I'm going to have to talk to somebody about this air quality here, this is so not healthy.'_

 _"I have some records of your...previous court cases." The woman smiled so sweetly at me, her eyes stared at me with mirth through her glasses. I practically sweat dropped and gave her a nervous grin. I ran my hands through my hair, her eyes followed my hands and I widened my eyes a bit and quickly shoved my hands deep into my pockets. My hands looked very feminine, maybe a little too even for a girl pretending to be a boy. Apparently I was to lost in thought because she gave me a look, a kind of_ questioning _look._

 _"Sorry what?" She sighed a little and I cracked a smile, I love disappointing annoying people._

 _"Why are you here?" My smile faded in an instant. Not this again._

 _"It was an accident I guess." I shrugged my shoulders in a nonchalant fashion. She quickly wrote some things down and I frowned a bit, what was she writing? The scratching of her pencil against the paper was starting to aggravate me, especially when I don't know what's being wrote on that stupid piece of paper._

 _..._

 _..._

 _Oh. My. God._

 _This woman wants to keep me here in this hillbilly hell!_

 _First off she starts trying to defend me and then she just turns around and says that_ I _need to clean up this mess and that_ I _will fix it up too._

 _This cannot get any worse._

* * *

I was wrong. This _can_ get worse. My racing jacket had just been splattered with this weird black and burning hot ooze coming from that monstrous machine. And my car! My beautiful car has been man-handled by those monsters and I won't be able to ride my car out of this dump until I fix this idiotic road!

Although I have one thing to be grateful about. My binds are still wrapped around my chest so I don't have to worry about that.

 _ **RIIIIIIIP**_

"Son of a bitch!"

* * *

 **I don't own Cars or it's characters. Thank you for the reviews follows and favorites I'm practically thriving off of them they mean so much to me thank you so much. Please read and review your thoughts and I hope you enjoyed this I had a bit of writers block making this chapter. I realized I'm probably going to be skipping a few scenes and adding and mixing scenes up in this story so I apologize for this. I'm going to admit I'm losing a little bit hope for this story but I still have some left so I'm not giving up yet. _To make this clear, Lightning went drinking and started drunk driving into Radiator Springs. I will explain this more in the next chapter._**


	4. Lizzie

_Although I have one thing to be grateful about. My binds are still wrapped around my chest so I don't have to worry about that._

 _ **RIIIIIIIP**_

 _"Son of a bi**h!"_

 _..._

 _..._

I scrambled to cover my chest after the my chest binds had broke and I frantically gazed around for anybody who would see me like this. My throat feels constricted and I feel exposed to the world, to be looked at and prodded at. Vulnerable. My eyes flickered up and down the broken and sandy streets in this barren-like town. After the court I had been explained how to use this big road paving- _shudder_ \- machine. And I was then left to my own devices, and it seemed the townsfolk here had left inside to do their own things inside where they couldn't see me. Except for an elderly woman, I squinted my eyes a bit, my hands still covering my chest, she seemed to be murmuring words to herself and she sat in a rocking chair outside of an old store. I flushed in relief, there had to be something to help me, quickly I sprinted to her, forgetting the job I had to get done. This was far too important, for me at least.

"You see her too, right Stanley?" The elderly woman asked to no one. I felt a little disturbed, but I needed to know if she had any types of binds or gauze here. I reluctantly stepped forth. She had her greying hair up in a bun and she wore old timey Sunday clothes and my eyes caught her wedding ring on her hand.

 _'Oh...'_

I felt guilty and sad for her, she lost her husband. I could tell easily because my old neighbors were like this, they were married for decades until my neighbors husband died and the whole neighborhood found out she had dementia. Her mind deteriorated and she constantly talked to the air as if her husband was there. She passed maybe a year or so after her husband, she had a small funeral with her family but I didn't attend.

"Hello." I started, "Do you have any- any types of elastic bandages?" The elderly woman smiled a bit and she stood up from her chair.

"We might have some," I blanched a little to myself at the 'we' part but I kept that to myself, but it was just a bit . She opened the door to the old store and she gestured for me to follow her. I did so and she shut the door behind me and turned some lights on before shutting the blinds. I gave her a questioning look and she patted a chair for me to sit in. I sat down awkwardly and she turned around to look into a drawer of an old desk. She pulled out an elastic bandage, and I felt released from stress and anxiety. This would be really uncomfortable and maybe a bit dangerous to keep a bad substitute of binds around my er- chest, my chest bind ripped and they could be resewn back together but my private tailor was definitely not around here so this will have to do.

The woman also pulled out a sewing kit and I watched her curiously.

"Okay dearie, take off that binder of yours and I'll stitch her back up again for you. No charge of course." The woman said kindly, she kept her back to me and I quietly did so. Very grateful for this woman, I handed her the ripped binder and the woman and she had begun to hum and sew my chest binder up, her fingers skillfully but carefully sowed the seams up.

There was comfortable sort of feeling in this room, I felt safe in here and I was glad she hadn't just thrown me out and let me be found out. She handed me back the chest binder and I graciously held it to my chest. I couldn't find any other words besides thank you, she smiled and turned around to give me some privacy and to put her sewing kit away. My jacket was still dirty but I had put it back on anyways. I felt at completely at ease now.

"Thank you so much Mrs." I thanked her with gratitude strong in my voice. The woman gave me a happy smile and she waved off the thank you.

"You can call me Lizzie young one." Lizzie said and I nodded. "Come with me, I'll get you some water. You'll get real thirsty out there." I followed Lizzie into the back of the store where there was another room where she kept the frozen and refrigerated things at. She pulled out a large water bottle and handed it to me, my hand felt a little numb from the cold in an instant and I thanked her again.

"How did you know that I was..." I trailed off. She lifted a finger and hovered it towards her eyes.

"Your eyes, you can look into ones eyes and see who they really are." She said, her voice felt so wise and I was going to ask her how. Then..

The door swung open a bit loudly up front the bell on top of the door jingled quietly. "Hey there Lizzie, you in here?" The chief's gruff voice called out. I groaned quietly, I hoped to at least get a bit more time away from all of this, I just want to go home and sleep, and Lizzie chuckled a bit.

...

...

"Mater! Where in the world has that kid gone off too? You were 'ppose to be watching him." Chief said disapprovingly, Mater rubbed the back of his head keeping his head down.

"Sorry Chief, I didn't mean to fall asleep." Mater apologized, but he perked up a bit and spoke quickly. "He can't of gone that far. Miss Sally took the gas out of his car." Mater reminded Chief happily. Chief massaged his mustache and nodded to himself lost in thought.

"Alright then, we're going to have to go looking for him. You get started by finding Miss Sally and-"

"Hey I found him!" Mater pointed excitedly at the sight of Lightning, well just part of Lightning, her appearance in the window of Lizzie's old store only meant that the kid was trying to hide and sneak off. Chief and Mater quickly jogged over to Lizzie's store to see if she was alright and to catch the troublemaker. They stepped onto the porch, swung open the screen door and entered her store.

"Hey there, mother? You in here?" Chief called out, Mater was busy awing all of the antiques already. Their footsteps thumped loudly under the groaning old creaky wood.

"Is that you son? What brings you by?" Lizzie asked, she came around the corner where a tall bookcase hid Lightning. Chief pulled Mater away from the snow globes Lizzie had set up as decorations before he would break them.

"Just dropping by to see why you're hiding that kid when he should be working." Lizzie sighed a bit and brought a sheepish Lightning out. Chief stared her down and then gave his mother a look. "You know this is going to make my job harder if you keep hiding the kid ma."

"I know."

* * *

 **I don't own Cars or it's characters. Sorry for the swearing in my previous chapters I'll try and tone it down more. If it makes anyone uncomfortable and they just don't like it please say so and I will stop. Do you guys like the first person? I thought I would be different. Thank you for all of your reviews I love them and hearing what you guys think. Please review your thoughts and enjoy.**


	5. I don't know

**Okay I have no clue where I'm going with this story or any of my stories. I'm not sure if what I'm doing is good or not and I don't know when I'm going to update again. I'm not going to lie I dunno if I want to keep writing my stories..**

 **I'm going through some things and I'm not sure if I'm going to make it through. If I don't update by Friday then I prolly won't update any of my stories again. I'm just not feeling my writing vibes.**

 **Later then, DelirousMelody**


	6. Story has been adopted

All stories are being adopted by a close friend of mine. EdgyBoi, yes ridiculous name but it's funny, who is going to most likely change up some chapters but all in all will re-publish the stories and stories of their own . I thank all of my followers and reviewers so much for being there and I'm so sorry I couldn't continue writing...

I wish you all the best of luck and goodbye, DeliriousMelody.


	7. Pretender remade

**Pretender has been adopted by 'EdgyBoi' and has been published on their profile. Thank you for all of your support and this story will be taken down tomorrow.**


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